Permanent Out of Conference Rival?

#102
#102
Appy St (in time), UNC, VTech, Clemson, Louisville, and GTech would all make for good rivals. Clemson, UNC and VTech would probably pay off the most in terms of recruiting.
 
#103
#103
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
West Virginia
Vanderbilt if they left the SEC for the Big 10.
 
#104
#104
If we're going by who we hate, Notre Dame would be right at the top of my list! I'd love to see us beat their asses on an annual basis!

If we're going by who we respect as a program with cool fans and just for the fun of getting to play them annually, I've always enjoyed it when we'd play UCLA. Michigan would be cool too.
 
#105
#105
Ledzepvol said:
I'm 50 years old and have been a Vols fan all my life. Personally, I have always liked playing UCLA. That's a great game/series, especially when we are beating the Bruins. I especially liked the 1989 game, when UT crushed #6 UCLA, 24-6. We ran all over them and should have beat them by a lot more... Also, it's good for recruiting, at least in my opinion. Go Vols!
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Nice user name.
 

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#106
#106
Booker512 said:
West Virginia. Morgantown is a pleasant little town imo. A home and home with them would be pretty nice. Call it the "Battle for Appalachia". Rocky Top vs The Mountaineers.
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I've talked to visiting fans from Auburn and several Big 12 teams that went there.
Said worst trip ever.
Said fans are vile and really even intimidate the refs.
I haven't talked to anyone who says they would go back.
 
#108
#108
Vfl2407 said:
I've talked to visiting fans from Auburn and several Big 12 teams that went there.
Said worst trip ever.
Said fans are vile and really even intimidate the refs.
I haven't talked to anyone who says they would go back.
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Meh. I've been to a game there back a couple years ago with an army buddy of mine. Had a great time.

I've got Gamecock friends that swear Knoxville is a trailer park on the river with hillbillies intimidating children and won't go back to Knoxville for a game. Lolololol. And we all know that isn't true.
 
#109
#109
A game with Texas could determine who the "real UT" is each year. (Of course, the Vols are The UT!) Plus Texas is rich recruiting ground where we have had some success (QD and McBride).
 
#110
#110
I would like to see us play an annual game against a power team in Memphis every year. Oklahoma one year, Texas the next. That would help with recruiting and selling the program in west and middle Tennessee. Also, would help with recruiting in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

We did this before but played teams like Army, Kansas, and Wake Forest, which made no sense at all.
 
#111
#111
VFL-82-JP said:
All four SEC-ACC permanent rivalries are based on in-state rivals. The three you mentioned plus UK-Louisville. That's why they exist. In-state rivals.

Our only in-state Power 5 rival is Vandy. And they're in the SEC. Therefore, no permanent OOC rival.

That's the answer to your "why don't we" question.

As for the "why shouldn't we"? Because of what they were talking about on the program you listened to: scheduling difficulties.

Better to have more flexibility. Nice to be able to play Oregon home and home, and NC State the next year, then Oklahoma home and home, and Virginia Tech the year after. Flexibility.

But if we HAD to do it, if someone held a gun to our heads, who would I pick?

I do like the idea of playing Va Tech at Bristol once every 10-20 years. Not a permanent cross-border, cross-conference rival, but a sporadic one. Like a once-a-generation thing.

Do not like the idea of Notre Dame. They're on the down swing, and it may not end until they're the rough equivalent of Georgia Tech or even Navy. I do not see them recovering soon from their own Dark Ages.

UNC would be kinda cool. Wouldn't mind that, if we HAD to have a full-time OOC rivalry game.

No other appetising choices appear to me.

But the big bottom line is, we don't have to do this, so we shouldn't. Leave flexibility in our schedule, flexibility that FL and UGa and USCe and UK only wish they had.

Go Vols!
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Are you kidding me??? That could be said of UT by Notre Dame. Have you forgotten they played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2015 and played in the BCS National Championship game in 2012? Exactly how have we done over the same 5 years?
 
#112
#112
jkleno said:
Are you kidding me??? That could be said of UT by Notre Dame. Have you forgotten they played in the Fiesta Bowl in 2015 and played in the BCS National Championship game in 2012? Exactly how have we done over the same 5 years?
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Yeah, but I'm not looking at Notre Dame through the lens of short term changes, or even medium term. Gotta take a long term view to see where they're going in the next 50 years.

And it's really not even that much about what happens on the field, as off. The latter drives the former, over time.

So here's the long term trend line for Notre Dame.

In the mid-1900s, they were king of American college football. Had more fans probably than any other team, with an Irish and Italian Catholic diaspora stretching from coast to coast. So powerful in their fan base that they could strong arm a TV contract all on their own, a very lucrative one. Absolutely eschewed conference affiliation; they were too big a brand and too powerful on their own to lessen themselves by becoming one of a club; any club. Even the (then) mighty Big 10.

That was then.

Today, the fan base has become diluted. No longer does religion contribute much to fandom, since religion has become a less powerful social force in America. Kids don't grow up in the church, and become indoctrinated to ND football the way they did when I was a lad. The broad, nationwide fan base is evaporating slowly away. They still have their corner of Indiana, sure, but that's not what made them Notre Dame.

And with the loss of a nationwide fan base goes the strength of the brand. ND still has a TV contract with NBC, but the ND bargaining position is weaker, causing a 10-year extension in the last round, 2013, when always before the university insisted on nothing longer than 5-year builds.

And you see ND gravitating slowly toward the ACC. Being one of a group is beginning to have appeal now when it didn't before, when ND was powerfully independent. Eventually, ND will likely be just another member of one of the conferences, whether ACC or B10.

There's a lot more to it, this is just wave tops, but the long term view is that ND will cease to be Unique, a Case Apart, and will become just another mid-western university with a football program.

Will they have up years? Sure. Heck, they could get into the playoffs this year, or one year soon. But the great years will continue to become fewer and further between. More good-but-not-great years, and more mediocre years. More bad years, too, like this 4-8 season they just went through.

In short, ND is becoming just another team. And for them, that's a very bad trendline. Compared to where they used to be.

...

So forget trying to compare their past 5 years to Tennessee's. We're talking long term past, and long term future.

That's what I meant, JKLeno. And nope, wasn't kidding.
 
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#113
#113
zeppelin128 said:
So I was listening to The Playbook on XM, when a discussion came up about difficulty with national scheduling changes due to inter-conference rivalries in the South, such as Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, etc. Which led to driving thoughts: why don't we have a permanent out of conference rival we play every season? I like the idea: one permanent Power Five opponent, one random Power Five opponent, and two G5 teams.

Not Interested: A fellow in-state opponent would be ideal, but we already play the best lower tier team every season since Vandy is in the SEC. I have no interest in playing Memphis or MTSU.

Practical: Virginia Tech, NC State, or North Carolina. Geographically convenient and good recruiting grounds for all teams. I would lean toward Virginia Tech; they really dislike us for some reason, so a rivalry would not have to be forced. Plus we can do the Battle at Bristol thing every five or ten years as a special occasion.

My Dream Scenario: Notre Dame. We have a history of good games, similar fan-bases, tradition, national exposure, and college blue-bloods. Plus everybody loves beating Notre Dame. I don' think it is practical because of their five game contract with the ACC, but it would be awesome.

What say you?
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My thought is "verity is the spice of life".
As for Virginia Tech: I think they dislike everyone.
 
#115
#115
As for an in state OOC rival like other SEC schools have Memphis would make the most sense for Tennessee.
It would also help in recruiting in that area.
I think it would be a lopsided rivalry but it would definitely make drawing kids from the West side easier I would think.

I would love to play VT each year though. If I could pick that would be my choice.
I believe that would be an intense rivalry.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#116
#116
Rockytoptalker said:
I like the idea of playing Memphis every year. But, I know most on here wouldn't agree. It'd give some of us West TN folk more opportunities to see the Vols.

If I had to pick a P5 program... Well, I'll just choose 3 I'd go with.

VT- They seem to be the popular choice. Really close in proximity and neither fan base particularly cares for the other. Their program is also consistently a top 25 team. So, good football and good T.V. ratings. Everybody's happy.

UCLA- We have a history with them and I'm still upset from 2008 & 2009. I would go with any PAC-12 school, though, as I like the idea of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry. Washington might actually be my personal choice.

Penn State- Two of the most storied programs in college football history with two of the biggest stadiums. This game would guaranteed to be rocking no matter where it's played at. The national attention around a game like this would be rather beneficial as well.
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I would rather drive 5 hours to Knoxville (300+ miles) than 2 hours (110 miles) to see Vols play anybody. Trying to see a game in the "hat" at Memphis is like long distance telephone using a string and two cans. Not to mention needing armed guards just to get to the (hat).
 
#119
#119
onevol74 said:
I would like to see us play an annual game against a power team in Memphis every year. Oklahoma one year, Texas the next. That would help with recruiting and selling the program in west and middle Tennessee. Also, would help with recruiting in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

We did this before but played teams like Army, Kansas, and Wake Forest, which made no sense at all.
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History note: Long ago we played Ole Miss in Memphis most of the time...
Not sure any game played in Memphis would help west Tenn. recruiting. Don't think the playing a game there would help influence the Memphis high school coaching staffs, which lean toward closer schools ( Ala. and Miss schools)
as their players seem to follow their advice, and UT doesn't seem to fit).
 
#120
#120
HuntlandVolinColo said:
Western Kentucky!!!

Or...

Virginia/Maryland are good recruiting grounds, so I would go with them.

As for a good ACC team that would be more of a rivalry NC, VT, Duke or NCSt.

Clemson, GT, FLSt, & Louisville already have their SEC rivalry and Texas should have aTm.

In a way, I guess NC would be better rivalry for SCAR and kind of already is a second ACC rivalry for them after Clemson. And Wake, Purdue or Northwestern for Vandy, Kan/KanSt for Mizzou.
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Missouri never really had terribly strong ties with Kansas St, despite sharing the same conference.

The better pairings on that end would likely be with one of their old major yearly rivals:


  • Kansas (their main rivalry game - the Border War, Indian Drum trophy and Lamar Hunt trophy, played continuously for 120 years until 2012, Missouri's closest chance at a national championship ending against a KU team that had to forfeit its games 2-3 weeks later because starting HB Bert Coan was found to be ineligible...also based in part off of Missouri's and Kansas's very violent and guerrila warfare heavy history between the states before and during the Civil War)
  • Nebraska (the Victory Bell trophy, the Flea Kicker game, played yearly from 1892-2010)
  • Oklahoma (the Tiger-Sooner Peace Pipe trophy)
  • Iowa State (the Telephone Trophy , played yearly from 1896-2011, one of Iowa State's fewer rivalries)
  • To a lesser extent, Illinois (the two are so close to St. Louis that they often did a neutral site game there in the old Rams stadium, sometimes called the Arch Rivalry...they've really only met 24 times though, historically it's really more of a secondary/friendlier rivalry -if that - at best or a game interesting alumni of both in the surrounding St Louis area).
 
#123
#123
zeppelin128 said:
So I was listening to The Playbook on XM, when a discussion came up about difficulty with national scheduling changes due to inter-conference rivalries in the South, such as Florida-Florida State, Clemson-South Carolina, Georgia-Georgia Tech, etc. Which led to driving thoughts: why don't we have a permanent out of conference rival we play every season? I like the idea: one permanent Power Five opponent, one random Power Five opponent, and two G5 teams.

Not Interested: A fellow in-state opponent would be ideal, but we already play the best lower tier team every season since Vandy is in the SEC. I have no interest in playing Memphis or MTSU.

Practical: Virginia Tech, NC State, or North Carolina. Geographically convenient and good recruiting grounds for all teams. I would lean toward Virginia Tech; they really dislike us for some reason, so a rivalry would not have to be forced. Plus we can do the Battle at Bristol thing every five or ten years as a special occasion.

My Dream Scenario: Notre Dame. We have a history of good games, similar fan-bases, tradition, national exposure, and college blue-bloods. Plus everybody loves beating Notre Dame. I don' think it is practical because of their five game contract with the ACC, but it would be awesome.

What say you?
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Any Big Ten would work. Automatic win every year!

Big Ten sux!

:)

Tennesseeduke
 
#124
#124
We can't beat Bama and UF regularly, so why would we talk about adding another power 5 team permanently to our schedule?
 
#125
#125
MWAVolfan said:
We can't beat Bama and UF regularly, so why would we talk about adding another power 5 team permanently to our schedule?
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Every P5 team has to have at least one P5 out of conference game, so it's going to happen regardless. Dems da rules...

P.S. We beat Virginia Tech last year.
 
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